OFAC targets the offshore companies and facilitators behind the Prince Group

What happened

On 5 November 2026, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities that support the business network of the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization. Treasury says Prince Group affiliates have generated billions of dollars through digital asset investment scams, romance scams, and other online fraud. The action builds on designations made on 14 October 2025 and 23 June 2026.

Treasury says the new targets helped sustain the group after those earlier rounds. They managed offshore corporate structures, concealed beneficial ownership, and provided administrative and financial services to senior executives. OFAC credited the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Financial Investigation Agency and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for assistance and information sharing.

The largest cluster sits under Qiu Yong, whom Treasury calls a key Prince Group member holding passports from jurisdictions including Cambodia, St. Lucia, and Türkiye. Qiu Yong is the beneficial owner of BVI companies that control Hong Kong firms involved in money lending and the wine industry, and of four BVI shelf companies. OFAC also designated Qiu Yong’s personal assistant, Zhao Mengyao, who serves as company secretary and co-director of multiple Hong Kong companies in the network.

Two further designations concern executive Chen Bo, sanctioned in June. Treasury says that since OFAC’s October 2025 action, Chen Bo has transferred ownership of a Tokyo mansion to spouse He Yujing. Visal Pang controls eleven Cambodian companies, several of them co-directed with Chen Bo, and was designated by the United Kingdom on 26 March 2026. OFAC also listed eleven Cambodian companies that Chen Bo still controls, including CB General Insurance and Prince International Airlines.

Separately, OFAC designated Chui Kok Wa, who Treasury says led a Madagascar-based network that defrauded Americans of over $400,000 equivalent.

Why it matters

Treasury describes executives relying on layers of offshore holding companies, foreign entities, nominee directors, and corporate service providers. Screening only the names designated in 2025 would likely have missed most of these companies, because the connection runs through ownership and directorships.

The transfer to a spouse shows the timing to watch. An ownership change shortly after a designation deserves more scrutiny than the new owner’s clean screening result suggests.

OFAC’s 50 percent rule blocks entities owned 50 percent or more, individually or in the aggregate, by blocked persons. A nominee arrangement can keep the visible ownership below that line, so the rule alone will not settle the question.

The sectors matter too. Treasury names wine distribution as an example of the group’s reach into ostensibly legitimate businesses, and the list includes insurance, property, airline, and hotel companies. Payments to these firms may look like ordinary trade.

Practitioner angle

• Re-screen directors, company secretaries, and shareholders against the 5 November list, as well as customer names.
• Search your records for the Hong Kong money lenders Premium Financial and Solar Scape Financial, and review any loans or repayments that touch them.
• Flag transfers of property or shares to spouses, relatives, or assistants after a designation date, and test whether control really changed.
• Aggregate holdings across all blocked persons when applying the 50 percent rule, and record how you reached the figure.
• If you provide company services, look for individuals acting as secretary or director across many companies with a shared controller.
• Capture every nationality and passport at onboarding, and refresh that data at review.